Reproducibility of specific gravity estimations on bone samples from different sites of cattle and sheep

Abstract

The specific gravities (SG) of bone samples taken from various parts of the skeleton of cattle and sheep were determined gravimetrically in an effort to establish which sites give the most reproducible and uniform results, so that between animals, or sequential within animals, comparisons may be made with maximum sensitivity. Samples obtained from the mandible of sheep and the rib of cattle and sheep were found to be too variable to be useful for most purposes. Best results were obtained using whole bones which are easily prepared, such as the tibial tarsal bones of cattle and sheep and the fibular tarsal bone of cattle. These bones gave within animal deviations of 0.012–0.024 SG units, when comparing left bone with right bone. Slightly higher values were obtained for coccygeal vertebrae from cattle and distal metacarpal condyles from sheep. SG was related to ash, calcium and phosphorus contents of coccygeal vertebrae of cattle and it is considered that, for survey work on the mineral status of the bones of cattle and sheep, the correlations are sufficiently high to make their determination unnecessary. This will enable radiation determined SG techniques to be applied to this type of work.